Romney lowers expectations for Ryan-Biden debate

CNN

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - 11:50am

U.S. — During an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, GOP nominee Mitt Romney suggested his running mate, Paul Ryan is an inexperienced debater.

"Obviously, the vice president has done, I don't know, 15 or 20 debates during his lifetime, experienced debater. This is, I think, Paul's first debate. I may be wrong. He may have done something in high school, I don't know," Romney said.

But a spokesman for the vice presidential candidate confirmed to CNN that Ryan has performed in a number of debates over the course of his congressional career.

"He's done several over the years," Ryan spokesman Michael Steel said. Steel said he does not have a specific number.

"Nothing like this though," Brendan Buck, another Ryan spokesman, added.

In his first congressional debate, the then-28-year-old Ryan defended his young career in Washington as a congressional aide and staffer for a think thank led by Jack Kemp and Bill Bennett.

"I learned how Washington does and does not work," he said, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "You''ve got to go to Congress and stand up for your principles," he added.

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